Immerse: Poets Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 316
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IMMERSE
•
POETS
Food is grown on the earth above,
but down below, the earth is melted as by fire.
Here the rocks contain precious lapis lazuli,
and the dust contains gold.
These are treasures no bird of prey can see,
no falcon’s eye observe.
No wild animal has walked upon these treasures;
no lion has ever set his paw there.
People know how to tear apart flinty rocks
and overturn the roots of mountains.
They cut tunnels in the rocks
and uncover precious stones.
They dam up the trickling streams
and bring to light the hidden treasures.
“But do people know where to find wisdom?
Where can they find understanding?
No one knows where to find it,
for it is not found among the living.
‘It is not here,’ says the ocean.
‘Nor is it here,’ says the sea.
It cannot be bought with gold.
It cannot be purchased with silver.
It’s worth more than all the gold of Ophir,
greater than precious onyx or lapis lazuli.
Wisdom is more valuable than gold and crystal.
It cannot be purchased with jewels mounted in fine gold.
Coral and jasper are worthless in trying to get it.
The price of wisdom is far above rubies.
Precious peridot from Ethiopia cannot be exchanged for it.
It’s worth more than the purest gold.
“But do people know where to find wisdom?
Where can they find understanding?
It is hidden from the eyes of all humanity.
Even the sharp-eyed birds in the sky cannot discover it.
Destruction and Death say,
‘We’ve heard only rumors of where wisdom can be found.’
“God alone understands the way to wisdom;
he knows where it can be found,
for he looks throughout the whole earth
and sees everything under the heavens.
28:5-24
